<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>AU - yes! Time Travel - no? by MinaB</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23683510">AU - yes! Time Travel - no?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinaB/pseuds/MinaB'>MinaB</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Vampire Diaries (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Future, Caroline Forbes &amp; Stefan Salvatore Friendship, Eventual Bonnie Bennett/Damon Salvatore, F/M, Minor Caroline Forbes/Stefan Salvatore, Originally Posted to Tumblr, Time Travel, cuz that's more fun, future daughter that no one knows about, like she doesn't tell them, minor stelena mentions, more like AU travel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 16:28:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>15,202</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23683510</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinaB/pseuds/MinaB</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sheila-Rose Bennett was one odd witch that confused the hell out of Damon and got along too well with Judgy, but she was also willing to help them take down Klaus so he couldn't complain much right? Except why did she look at him like that? Or at Bonnie? And how come he'd never heard of her when he remembered every Bennett born?</p><p>Meanwhile Rose wondered why her dad was suck a dick in the past and why her mom such a push over. But at least she was having fun before her actual mom came to get her and likely kill her for getting here in the first place, that is if her dad didn't get her first.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bonnie Bennett/Damon Salvatore</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>86</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. I</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Damon was just trying to get Bonnie to the burned witches' house to defeat Klaus, he didn't need this other annoying little witch he's never heard of before ruining his plans.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Damon propped his feet up on the arm of the loveseat he found himself laying down on, an air of nonchalance mere facade to the turmoil he was feeling inside. Elena and Stefan sat opposite him, poetic really, he thought, talking about what there was to do now that uncle John decided to fuck up again. He couldn’t understand how some people could be this stupid. Why would anyone trust Isobel was beyond him, the bitch had tricked him into turning her, had tricked Elena just a few months ago, had fucked up Alaric good and proper and had been working with <em> Katherine </em>. He listened to Stefan try to propose they use their house as a safe-house and Elena shoot it down immediately. Figures. Was there no one around who used their brain? </p>
<p></p><div class="">
  <p><em> There’s Bonnie </em>, his mind helpfully supplied as he heard Elena wrack up another complaint. He answered this one, thoughts of the little witch in his head. He didn’t like having to revisit one of his greatest failures. Because he knows allowing Emily Bennett to burn could only be catalogued as nothing other than failure. And now Bonnie wanted to absorb all that power. Hence, she was definitely the intelligent one here. More power was exactly what they needed, not drama with bio-mom from hell. </p>
  <p>“To the Lockwood luncheon.” he heard Elena finish her sentence, followed closely by his brother’s knight in armour aquies.</p>
  <p>“Not me, I’ve witch stuff to attend to with Bonnie” he quipped, watching Elena’s warm gaze shifting to him again. He also paid enough attention to Katherine lurking about just then. He knew she’d been listening to the whole conversation, she wasn’t subtle about it, which only served to annoy and baffle him. Why wasn’t Mistress of Bitchdom pretending to hide anymore? Oh well, question for another day perhaps, bigger fish to fry.</p>
  <p>“Does that mean you’re taking her to the -” he shushed Elena before she could give them away, a stray thought of<em> Bonnie would’ve known not to say anything </em>worming its way into his mind, and he almost scoffed at himself. Since when was the witch at the front of his thoughts? But before he could dwell on that particular annoyance, Katherine saunters her way over and he hears footsteps outside in the walkway. He’s about to answer the she-demon when the front door’s lock turns and the door swings open suddenly. He’s up on his feet and with his hand around the uninvited visitor’s neck before Stefan even has the chance to get up and plant himself in front of Elena. Katherine of course does nothing, simply turns to stare at him and the young woman he’s holding against the wall, a mild shock flitting over her features almost too quick to see. He doesn’t get more than a few seconds before he finds himself doubled over in sudden pain, clutching his head as stars burst behind his eyelids. He almost thinks he’s misstepped and Bonnie herself was standing there, the wave of magic bringing him to his knees and the smell of blood so very similar to hers. Bennett blood for sure.</p>
  <p>“Ack!” He cries out and waits for the ringing in his ears to subside, then he casts a customary glance around at his brother and his ex, surprised to see Katherine herself on her knees, still in apparently a lot of pain. Whoever the Bennett witch that just stepped inside their house like she owned it was, she didn’t stop until Ktherine was unconscious on the ground.</p>
  <p>“Sorry for the aggression, but I don’t respond to threats well and I really don’t like <em> her </em>.” a soft, but confident voice has Damon turning back to inspect the newcomer. She’s petite, in all senses of the word with her barely up to his shoulders height and lithe physique, but her own shoulders are squared and there’s an air of knowing all around her. He almost sees the Bennett witch they’re all too familiar with in her stead again. It’s disconcerting to say the least, especially with the very bright, and very blue, eyes staring at him with a small smirk. She’s cocky too, he realizes, and she’s certainly powerful enough to back it up if Katherine’s unconscious form on the ground like a sack of potatoes is anything to go by.</p>
  <p>“And who exactly are you?” he readies himself for another aneurysm as he speaks, but to his surprise, her whole demeanor shifts suddenly upon looking back at him, if he didn’t know better he’d say she’s just… seen her favourite person. But it snaps back in place so quick he blinks to make sure he didn’t imagine it all.</p>
  <p>“I’m Sheila-Rose Bennett.” She begins and he nods slowly, he’d already figured she’d be a Bennett, but how was it possible he didn’t know of her he couldn’t explain, it was strange. He might’ve not known how Lucy looked like when she showed up at the Masquerade a few weeks back, but he had remembered her father and her being born. He happened to have been near the hospital at the time, like he tried to be whenever a new Bennett was born. Hell, he still remembered Rudy, Bonnie’s dad, pacing in the small hospital hallway with Sheila there telling him to sit down and not wear the floor out when Abby was giving birth. He made good on his promises he thought, <em> unlike Emily </em>. “I’m here to help you with Klaus.” she continued.</p>
  <p>He straightened out, pushing to his feet as soon as the words were out of her mouth. “And what exactly do you know of Klaus?” <em> And how don’t I know you? </em>His mind screamed at him. </p>
  <p>“I’ve had some … experience dealing with him” there was a smile on her lips, wry, as though laughing at an inside joke that only she was in on. The witch was odd.</p>
  <p>“Ok, <em> Sheila-Rose- </em>” he began, but was cut off just as fast.</p>
  <p>“It’s just Rose, only mom calls me Sheila-Rose, and that’s usually when I’m in trouble.” another one of those wry smiles. It was slowly making him lose his mind. There was something so very familiar to her that was frustrating him beyond reason.</p>
  <p>“Sure, whatever. What can you tell us about Klaus?” He noted that Elena was shifting her weight from on foot to the other, impatient, when he remembered she needed to go. “Brother, why don’t you and Elena get to that luncheon, I’ve got Baby Blues here covered. Plus our very own Wicked Witch of the East is bound to show up in, oh, five minutes or so? I’ve got this.” Stefan and he shared a quick look and then baby brother was walking past him and the new Bennett, briefly breaking their staring contest, to pick up his coat and then he and Elena were out the door and driving away. Damon turned and poured himself some bourbon, taking a sip and letting it sooth the nagging pounding that always remained behind after that particular witch’s spell. The witch came fully inside the house now, bypassing Katherine’s body and laying herself in the same loveseat he’d previously occupied, swinging her legs up and over the arm of it, and lacing her fingers around her knees to keep herself upright, looking at him expectedly.</p>
  <p>“Should I wait for … whoever you said was joining? Or should I just spill the beans right now?” she certainly had attitude, he thought, matching his tone to a T and he wasn’t sure whether he was impressed or annoyed by it.</p>
  <p>“How do I not know you?” he couldn’t let that question go, and he also didn’t want Bonnie to know just how much he cared about her bloodline. She might actually burn him again if she did, he had a feeling. </p>
  <p>“You don’t know every one of us, we scattered too much to keep track, so let’s not poke through generations. I’m here for something else, not the past.” she smiled again, that same damn smile that was slowly making his skin itch. There was something there, she knew something she was hiding, something that was about him or regarded him at least. It was driving him insane, and still she wasn’t saying anything.</p>
  <p>“Fine, keep your secrets. How old are you anyways, Witch-y?”</p>
  <p>“I just turned 19. Why does it matter?” defensive. <em> Fun! </em>He can poke at that. </p>
  <p>“Kinda on the young side to be dealing with Big Bad Klaus, aren’t you?” he began and saw her wince. Double fun, he could really dig here. “How come mommy and daddy let you come here? Or do they not know?” he saw her shift in her seat and knew he’d hit the nail on the head. “Oh, so they don’t know then?”</p>
  <p>“Not any of your business old man. I’m here and I’ve got info you guys will want, trust me on that.” </p>
  <p>“Old man? One, don’t nickname, two, so you’ve said but I’m not convinced. See, if you’re 19 then how come you know anything about Klaus?” </p>
  <p>“I know about him from my parents, they’ve fought him before. But haven’t been able to stop him. But they didn’t have the knowledge they do now, I have that and then some and I have you trying to fight him. I can help, that I promise.” She certainly was convincing, but Damon hadn’t survived so long and gone through the shit he had to just believe any nutso that strolled into his house. Just as he was about to answer her, Bonnie burst through the front door, Jeremy a few steps behind her, a flurry of righteous annoyance around her. He barely listened to her begin to berate him being late when he saw her gaze turning to their guest. </p>
  <p>Speaking of, the littlest witch suddenly swung her feet back to the floor, sitting up properly and a grin growing on her lips as she stood up, hand outstretched and introduced herself as though to her celebrity crush. God, why was everyone coo-coo in this town?</p>
  <p>“Sheila-Rose Bennett! Very nice to meet you, know a lot about you, Bonnie.” She rushed through suddenly. To say that Bonnie was overwhelmed was an understatement. So he did the nice thing for once and patted the place next to him on the couch for Bonnie to take a seat. She did so in shock and even took a sip of his bourbon when he extended it to her, only to chock and sputter once the taste hit her. Small mercies seemed to exist after all, he figured when she didn’t do so much as glare at him, though with how she kept staring at the other Bennett he figured it had less to do with <em> him </em> and more to do with <em> her </em>.</p>
  <p>“Now now, Rosie-Posie, let’s not overload Bon-bon here.” He was smirking as he spoke, looking from Bonnie to the newcomer when confusion hit him again at the genuine shock and delight on her face seemingly at his words. He was dying to know what could he have possibly said to warrant that look, but before he could, the woman began speaking in earnest. She hadn’t been lying, he realised quickly. She definitely had information they needed and power they could use, if Katherine’s still unconscious form on the ground was anything to go by.</p>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>More on Rose next chapter since it's her POV ;)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. II</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The story of how Rose got here aka she's so fucked it's not even funny.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Rose was home for the holidays, Easter in just a few days and college too loud to be able to study when she found it. The spell she’d been looking for since that summer 5 years ago when her cousin dared her to find the most powerful spell in her mom’s grimoires and attempt it. She’d had her plans foiled that week, but the idea remained firmly planted in her mind since. Especially since the spell was a dimension travelling one, which sounded just way too much fun not to try at some point just for fun. So when she saw her dad lead her mom to the dance floor, both distracted with their - </span>
  <em>
    <span>eww </span>
  </em>
  <span>- flirting, she snuck into her mom’s witch’s den - dad’s words not hers, </span>
  <em>
    <span>but if it fits ya’know</span>
  </em>
  <span>? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The room was dark, it always was unless her mom was busy training her magic, and then it was just candlelight illuminating it. Rose looked around the corridor for a second, making sure no one had noticed her and come after. When no sound save for the small party downstairs was heard, she uttered a soft </span>
  <em>
    <span>incendia</span>
  </em>
  <span>, lighting all the hung candles inside. For a few minutes she was stuck in the sheer nostalgia of being in the room. She remembered with sudden clarity all the summer nights, widows open, fresh air coming through mixing with the cinnamon candles her mom prefered as the two of them played around with kiddie magic. She then recalled moving onto more powerful spells, like how to take on villains stronger than her just with a thought just a year ago, to playing hide and seek with her dad and hiding underneath the tablecloth and giggling so much he definitely knew exactly where she was - even if he hadn’t had the advantage of being vampire. It was this same room she’d locked herself in when at 11 her mom and dad sat her down and told her how they were going to adopt her, she’d been living with them for only 3 months at that point. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her mom’s old grimoire sat on a shelf that her dad and uncle could never agree on how it had had the top half torn off. She slowly walked over, still so very careful not to let any unnecessary noise be heard. She’d been used to magic, she’d gotten thrown out of 3 foster homes by age 9 due to magic she couldn't even begin to understand before she reached the Salvatore-Bennett’s, but hanging around vampires had taken some adjusting. Luckily her dad enjoyed being chased around the house by a curious 11 year old and then later a rumbustious teen in a variety of always entertaining games to the point she got very used to both making herself as quiet as possible as well as learning what to look for when his turn would come. So she got the grimoire and laid it on the table, flipping through the pages slowly, not wanting to risk missing the one she was looking for. A few others jumped to her as she did so, but she stored the info for later. She wanted to try that dimension spell right now. She reached something about pocket dimensions first - prison worlds and … </span>
  <em>
    <span>did that say Hell?</span>
  </em>
  <span> - but at least that’s how she knew she was close. The song had changed in the time she’d spent reminiscing, but she could hear her dad downstairs still, aggravating her aunt as per usual so it was all good. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Bingo!</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The words flowed from her lips and for a second she thought she did something wrong since she felt none of the usual surge that came with doing magic, but then something just… pulled at her and she lost consciousness. When she came to next she was in the driveway of her childhood home - if from 11 onward one could call it a childhood home, but it was the closest she ever got - and her head was pounding. She let herself feel the pain a minute or so before she got up and looked around. The sun was up, midday at least, maybe earlier, which was very odd considering it was nearing 11 at night just a few seconds ago. But she figured the spell had worked. Here she was, outside the Boarding House - which she could never understand why it continued to be called that since in all her years there not once was it used as such. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She almost bounced on the heels of her feet, excited to see what this world had to offer - could she meet herself? Was it weird that she found that exciting? - so she immediately headed to the front door. But as she walked past the car parked in the driveway, her eyes found the newspaper wedged between the drives’ seat and the handbrake and her eyes widened at the date. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” she whispered in disbelief. “No, no, no nononono!” her heart started beating faster when the realisation dawned on her. She had traveled to a different dimension, but she’d never thought of the very real possibility that the dimension she’d be travelling to would be in the </span>
  <em>
    <span>past.</span>
  </em>
  <span> “Oh no, mom’s gonna kill me and dad’s gonna let her.” </span>
</p><p><span>She looked around again, making sure no one was around</span> <span>to see her panic nor hear her, who knows what lurked in this dimension, god knows she didn’t think this through enough. She breathed a few seconds, in and out, in and out, then closed her eyes, fully intending on going back home. Except she hadn’t paid any mind to the return spell nor did she even remember the original spell she’d used. </span><em><span>Great</span></em><span>. Probably better she hadn’t remembered though, who knows where she would end up. At least here it looked vaguely like home. With a little bit of luck, she might even find her parents here, or someone who she could recognize from back home. Eventually her mom would go into her room and see the grimoire and spell and come get her, but who knew how long that’d be. Was time even moving at the same pace here? Sure she’d just gone a few minutes ago, there was no reason to think it wasn’t the same pace, but what if she’s been gone for days at home and mom had tried to bring her back and couldn’t, or what if it was slower at home and she’s just been gone for milliseconds and by the time her mom would find she was gone she’d be old and gray here, would she still be old and gray when she got back? Or would she revert to this age that she left as, and would she even want to go or want to return to a college student home for spring break? Or-</span></p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Breathe with me, Rosie-Posie. Just breathe with dad.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Listening to her dad’s voice in her head she did as he bade, closing her eyes almost letting her feel his hand on hers as he’d take her and put it over his chest so they’d sync their breaths when her panic would spiral. He used to joke she’d gotten the anxiety from her mom and uncle Stefan, despite not being related by blood to any of them. It used to make her feel like an impostor the first few times he’d done it, but afterward it just made her feel like belonging. Just like her mom telling her all about grandma Sheila that for some odd twist of fate she just happened to share a name with. Mom called it funny, dad called it fate. She called it sheer dumb luck. But it did make her feel like they really had been a family from the beginning. Hell she even had blue eyes. What were the chances? If she hadn’t remembered her birth dad’s dark skin on her lighter one as he kissed her goodnight the night he left or her birth mom’s watery blue eyes as she lay in the hospital when she was four she’d have agreed with Damon’s theory. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sighed, heavy, and put the newspaper back from where she’d gotten it and made her way to the house. It made no sense to get lost in the worry just yet. She’d barely arrived, there was plenty of time for panic later. She was more curious what she could walk into now. She remembered her mom telling her about this time and dad turning these moments into sleeping stories when she was younger. She got only more curious about their pasts the more she grew up until they’d eventually caved and told her everything she’d wanted. Slowly, in bite sized pieces that had frustrated her to no end in the beginning, but she was glad for now since it made remembering everything so much easier.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She walked towards the door the same way she had whenever she played hide and seek with her dad since she figured it was probably a good thing not to be noticed before she could figure out what the hell was going on. She listened once she reached the door and heard what sounded like Elena Gilbert, but she couldn’t bee too sure since a. She’d only met Elena like 3 times in her life and each one for a few minutes at a time, despite her mom still talking to her every week or so and b. Katherine was supposed to be around at this point in time, right? Was Hope’s dad here too yet? Or did she mix up the dates? Only, she reminded herself, Niklaus Mikaelson wasn’t Hope’s dad here, he wasn’t even semi nice if what Alaric’s library books on the great hybrid said was true. Oh boy, she so wasn’t ready for any of this bullshit. Her mom would write the best eulogy for her when she got home, something like “I loved my daughter more than my life, but damn if she didn’t deserve a Bonnie famous lecture and punishment” just after she killed her with her bare hands in a loving manner of course.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She took out her keys and put them in the lock, turned, but the door just opened without any fight and she almost had a heart attack on the spot </span>
  <em>
    <span>because what kind of morons were her parents in this time/universe to not lock their doors? </span>
  </em>
  <span>She’s still thinking about this when her dad -</span>
  <em>
    <span> no, not dad, Damon, and isn’t that the weirdest thing</span>
  </em>
  <span> - suddenly pounces at her and tries to strangle her. She reacts immediately, just as her dad - the one back home that loves and knows her - had taught her to do and sends a wave of aneurysms across the room, making sure to hit who’s surely Katherine extra hard via a very advanced spell her mom taught her recently that renders the 500 year old vampire in a mini coma for however long the caster wants. As Damon starts interrogating her, she can’t help putting on a bit of a show. They look so odd like this, weirdly young and very much in shock at her power that isn’t even that much of a big thing. She’s average as far as power goes back home, definitely not the witch goddess her mom is. But her mom isn’t her mom yet and she certainly isn’t yet that strong here… or rather, Bonnie isn’t yet as strong as her mom here. So she enjoys the game she finds herself playing with Damon and later Bonnie when she gets there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But she definitely has no clue what she’s gotten herself into yet as she tried to give an abridged version of the story her parents had told her over the course of at least 3 years. She sticks to the basics for them, Klaus is an Original, they’re a whole family that Klaus has the bad habit of fucking over - at least during this time - the Sun and Moon Curse is fake. And really, who the fuck thought that was a legit thing in the first place, seriously now? Klaus sired their whole vampire blood line so they can’t kill him, killing an Original kills their whole blood line, he plans on unleashing his werewolf side to belong, but he’s going to fail because his mom is mean as hell. She honestly isn’t sure what she doesn't say afterward, but the sheer silence brought on after her little tirade has her giddy. She could never get her mom and dad speechless like this, not without serious bodily harm or property damage, usually as a result of Lizzie Saltzman’s plans. She can’t wait to see how much chaos she can cause here by the end of the talk and looking at her mom with this dude that looks to be 14 that apparently is meant to be Jeremy Gilbert - only how can that be, Jeremy is a very strong vampire hunter that looks the part, not this string bean uncooked spaghetti looking </span>
  <em>
    <span>child</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And now she got when her dad meant when he said mom had had terrible taste in men before him - though Rose would argue looking at the Damon across from her that her mom’s taste didn’t so much as get better but simply change. She also couldn’t understand how these two who looked like they both wanted to be anywhere but near each other and yet oddly in sync couldn ever become the Bonnie and Damon that adopted her some odd years in the future/past/other universe. Huh… maybe she could have fun until her mom would come to kill her for being an idiot and dad would give her that </span>
  <em>
    <span>look</span>
  </em>
  <span> that made her want her mom to kill her.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. III</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bonnie Bennett had begun her day with a slow calming chant of <em>Don’t let him get to you</em>, her thought firmly centred around one Damon Salvatore, a true thorn in her side since he’d first arrived in town not too long ago. She’d woken up slowly, light filtering through her blinds and shrouding the whole room in a husky shade of caramel, the lingering scent of citrus from the candles burnt the night before giving the room an all to homely feeling. She could hear her dad bustling downstairs, most likely getting some coffee for the road. It was fairly early still, but she had free-period the first half of the day and she was skipping the rest - life ending crises a good enough reason even if Mrs Jason still claimed that unless you were actually dead you had to show up for math class. She laid in bed a few more minutes, listening to her dad get dressed and slip out the door. She wondered for not the first time whether it would be better off if she tried to tell him all about this witch vampire mess again, but Grams had wanted him out of it, and he had wanted out of it after her mom left, so for the thousandth time she put it out of her mind. </p><p>She showered, changed and climbed down to get the little mug of coffee her dad always left out for her, dropping more sugar into it than a candy store had on its selves. Elena had once joked that if she didn’t end up making it big she would always work as an oompa-loompa for Willy Wonka for how much sugar she dumped into her coffee each day. Bonnie was still not sure if Elena thought that was just a good joke or if she just hadn’t understood the Chocolate Factory as a child. Caroline just liked to pat her on the shoulder with a wistful look on her face, like she wished she had Bonnie’s devil-may-care attitude about it - which ironically seemed to have not been the case even now as a vampire who ate more than a Quarterback. </p><p>The noise of Jeremy knocking on the door startled her out of her thoughts enough to almost spill the coffee on her shirt. Almost being the key word thankfully, so she dropped the mug into the sink and swung her bag over her head and headed for the garage. They were meant to meet Damon on the edge of the former Salvatore Estate, just off of the main road, by the woods, from where he’d then show her where the former Salem witches had been burned some centuries ago and where the Founders had burned Emily as well. Klaus was a threat hanging over their head constantly at this point. </p><p>On their way Jeremy began telling her about Isobel’s impromptu visit earlier this morning and how poor Aunt Jenna had locked herself in her room following it. Bonnie felt sorry for the woman, she definitely didn’t deserve to be lied to like that, but Bonnie also felt that telling her the whole truth would’ve been equally unfair. The least Alaric could’ve done was say that his wife was missing rather than dead, but that was none of her business at the end of the day. They talked some more as they waited, they’d arrived a bit early after all, and Bonnie realised once again just how different Jeremy now was, and how nice it was to see him so invested in her. She wasn’t sure yet if she actually liked him like that, but she definitely could imagine how sweet and thoughtful he’d be as a boyfriend. And she needed someone frankly. Seeing Elena with her two Salvatore’s bending over backwards to rescue her from any and every inconvenience and now Caroline complaining about having been kissed by both Matt and Tyler made her frustrated. Less so for the fighting over her situation, that sounded exhausting, but rather for the constant work she had to put into herself to even be noticed. Maybe she should move for college, she had a feeling Virginia might be part of the problem here as well, though she did find it hilarious how both Matt and Tyler had initially dated her before either moved on to Elena or Caroline. Then it just made her sad. Was it something about her that pushed them away?</p><p>She remembered with sudden clarity asking that to her Grams and the hour long lecture following her words, of how she was a strong woman, how boys wouldn’t be able to handle someone like her until later, how she should still enjoy herself and not be tied down to a boyfriend from middle school onward because then you saw what could happen - exhibit a through z Elena’s many rants about Matt. She’d listened but not believed her Grams. She still wasn’t sure if she believed her Grams but she did know she wanted someone for her own now, hell, she needed someone with all the stress and violence her life had suddenly turned to. And Jeremy was safe, and cute, and had puppy dog eyes for her and vived for her attention. Was part of her thinking she was settling? Maybe. Did she care? Not really. And speaking of not caring, where the hell was Damon at? He was already late by 15 minutes. <em>Don’t let him get to you. </em>Her inner voice chimed again.</p><p>“Jere, how about we just head to the Boarding House? Clearly someone is looking to be set on fire.” Jeremy laughed and nodded. He clearly thought Bonnie was joking, but oh boy couldn’t he be more wrong. Bonnie was 1000% setting Damon on fire if he didn’t come up with a good enough excuse. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Rose waited and watched. Jeremy Gilbert was off to the side, looking completely eager and completely in over his head as Bonnie and Damon were arguing about the best course of action following her short introduction into what she knew. And if they thought that was all she could tell them, then obviously they were still underestimating her which frankly was a bit condescending seeing as she was at least 2 years older than the Bonnie currently glaring at Damon. But she’d guessed that would be the reaction she was going to get when she made her choice to be as dramatic as possible. Mom used to say she got it from dad, but seeing the two younger versions of them interacting now she could safely say she got it from both. God knows those eye rolls and ridiculous insults were exaggerated as hell. How did these two people become her slow dancing in the kitchen on a random Thursday evening parents?</p><p>“Excuse me?” she tried, weakly, but still she gave it a shot. Jeremy looked over to her then at the still arguing duo then back at her with a look that seemed to say <em>this is just an ordinary Monday for them</em>. “EX-cuse ME!” she tried again, this time much louder but nothing. She sighed. Lost cause.</p><p>“If you would’ve let me pick you up like I said initially, you wouldn’t be here wanting to blow my head up now Judgy!”</p><p>“If you’d know how to use a phone like a normal person, I wouldn’t have waited needlessly for you for hours Damon!”</p><p>“Oh please, it was barely 5 minutes.” he scoffed and Jeremy piped up with a <em>it was fifteen technically</em> that Damon just elected to ignore it seemed. Sometime he did remind Rose of her dad. </p><p>“It doesn’t matter! We’re dealing with Klaus! A 5 seconds text shouldn’t be something I need to tell you to do!” Aaannd sometimes she reminded Rose of her mom. Great, now she had anxiety again. And lord knows her mom won’t just raise her voice to yell at her for ending up here like this Bonnie was doing, no no, her mom would have a level voice that somehow would hurt far more. She needed a distraction. She also needed to figure out what was about to happen around this time. Like she remember her dad mentioning that Alaric had gotten possessed at some point and that he and mom had danced at a school 60s event - which she had to ask who actually came up with that stuff, because while Lizzie definitely loved a nice theme party, she still went with like a hava night, or a rock theme or an Austrian ball or something more generic but more fun, not a decades dance. Digressing though, Rose knew these facts, but she didn’t know anything immediate. She needed more information. More inside information.</p><p>“Guys, could you take a break and answer a few questions for me first?” she tried one more time. To no avail. So hard times ask for hard measures or something like that and stubborn younger versions of her parents call for her parents usual solve to stubborn daughter fighting with her friends voice so she did her best to channel her mom’s level tone and her dad’s intimidating presence and for someone not actually related to them she though she did a good job seeing as Bonnie and Damon turned in unison to glare at her before being reminded of where they were and what was going on here. She was actually pretty proud of herself for that feat.</p><p>“So as I was trying to say, can you give me run-down of what’s been happening here?” </p><p>“Oh, I’m sorry, weren’t you the one who knew everything?” Damon commented snidely and Rose almost high-fived Bonnie when both her and Rose said in unison.</p><p>“Oh, you know what sorry means?” Bonnie off to the side.</p><p>“Oh, so you agree I was right?” Rose with a grin.</p><p>Damon  seemed to take a moment to grit his teeth and bite back his words before shaking his head, giving a smirk and walking right past Rose to pour himself a glass of bourbon and spread out onto the couch in seeming nonchalance. Rose would almost commend his acting here, if he didn’t also irritate her with it. Who knew dad used to be such a child… well, more so than in her universe...time?</p><p>“Damon, she didn’t say she knows everything and don’t be a dick. She’s the only one willing to help us here.” Bonnie on the other hand, Rose was beginning to appreciate more and more. Maybe she was more Mom’s pet in the past than Dad’s pet as she was used to.</p><p>“Thank you, Bonnie. And no, I don’t know <em>everything</em> I just know a lot, but I still need to have the full picture and all the players to tell which is the best plan of attack here. As I said, you can’t kill Klaus, but you also don’t want him to become a hybrid right? That means we need to take every variable in consideration.” she argued and saw both Bonnie and Damon share a look before seemingly agreeing with her point of view. And boy was the Klaus of her universe going to laugh himself stupid when/if she made it back and told him his lessons in planning schemes - her dad’s turn of phrase not hers of Klaus’ - had been what had helped her most here. Oh irony, you cruel, opportunistic bitch. </p><p>“Bonnie was meant to take on over 100 dead witches’ energy today, it’s why we were waiting for Damon, he knew where they’d died.” came the first important nugget of information from the most - or least? - expected person, Jeremy Gilbert himself. Rose smiled at him in gratitude, glad at least one person was listening. </p><p>“Ok, that’s still going to be useful so maybe you should do that anyway and meanwhile I’ll see what Katherine's hiding?” Rose suggested and she didn’t even need to think before knowing that Damon was going to disagree with her - her dad still made that face whenever she and her friends planned something he thought was too dangerous or risky. Bonnie however seemed more receptive. </p><p>“No way! Do you even know what that bitch is capable of?” as she said, predictable.</p><p>“Damon, I think she might be right. You know Katherine is planning something, no way is she helping from the goodness of her heart and she won’t say anything to any of us.” Ah, how she loved her mom’s pragmatism at times - except when she was 14 and wanted a pony, then she much rather preferred her dad’s personal brand of impulsiveness that not only got her the pony she’s wanted since 5 but also made a stable off a little way further from the house.</p><p>“And she is still keeping Katherine knocked out.” Jeremy was quickly becoming Rose’s favourite person, no joke. He was full of wonderful insight and 100% helping her barely formed ideas come to fruition. She smiled proudly and nodded to the still unconscious vampire on the floor. She elected to ignore outright looking at the woman for now, too weirded out by the 1 to 1 replica of Elena to feel comfortable with it. Doppelgangers were too much for her. It was like evil clones, her dad had explained when he tried to make her understand how the whole doppelganger thing even worked - something about the universe or some chick named Tessa or another, she hadn’t been paying too close attention by that point. Their lives were very convoluted in her opinion. </p><p>Damon seemed to consider this possibility then, taking another large sip of bourbon and looking directly at Rose as he did so, before slamming the glass onto the end table by the foot of the couch and jumping to his feet. </p><p>“Alright, fine, then Bon-Bon, you me and little Gilbert need to head off. Rosie-Posie, you get the Queen of Hell. Good luck to you, you’re going to need it. The bitch hasn’t told the truth a day in her life.” </p><p>Rose nodded, smiled and waved them off as they all got out and left to do what they’d planned to do. She couldn’t wait for that honestly, it would at least get Bonnie’s magic up closer to the levels Rose knew from her mom. But the Rosie-Posie was going to kill her the longer she stayed here. It was going to make her slip and call Damon dad and it would all implode into itself, because if she was weak to one thing, it was being her dad’s Rosie-Posie and while she was fully aware this wasn’t actually her dad, her heart didn’t care. All was left now was for her mom to brush her hair out of her eyes and she might just snap. She’d missed her parents far before she got herself stranded in a different universe - despite it having been barely a few hours - since she hadn’t been home in at least 2 months. Sure she’d seen them nearly every night, more mom than dad since dad tried to pretend he still was immune to missing his girls, but it wasn’t the same as hearing her dad from a few feet away, well within hug reach or feel her mom’s warm hand through her hair. Fuck, and now she was crying. This day couldn’t be going worse. Her eyes strayed to Katherine and she groaned. Oh, it could definitely get worse. It could get so much worse.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. IV</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bamon focus a bit in this one!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Katherine had been surprisingly easy to deal with, Rose noted, watching the 500 year old vampire menace whoosh past her and out of the house. They hadn’t spent long talking, mainly because she had kept Katherine at arms distance as much as possible and explained that she was there to help with Klaus. Rose figured hearing the hybrid’s name was a great trigger word to dealing with the woman so she utilised it to its capacity and it worked out pretty great, except now Katherine was off telling someone everything, including a plan she didn’t hear anything about and a witch she, and no one else either, had heard anything about. Rose felt she should be more worried than she was, but she was confident enough. She’s been here for a maximum of two hours now and she was flying by the seam of her pants and still she was able to gain allies and prove herself as competent. Her parents would be so proud… if they ignored everything else about this adventure. </p><p>She headed upstairs to find a place to nap considering she was going on at least 20 hours of no sleep considering the finals she’d just finished before heading home and the party her parents had thrown the day she got there and her winding up here. But as she walked she passed by Damon’s room and remembered something a bit more important than her nap. The moonstone. She had to get the moonstone out of wherever the younger version of her dad hid it. Hopefully he still had horrible hiding places, like the back of the fridge when she was 15 and Christmas and none of the presents fit at all behind there, but she pretended not to notice even though her mom almost died laughing on the floor when both of them walked in on him ginning proudly while at least two boxes fell out. She wasn’t sure if this was her dad being overconfident or if he really genuinely thought that had been a brilliant idea. So she entered his bedroom and began looking at the most obvious places someone would hide a moonstone in. It took her a grand total of 30 minutes to find it in the soaps basket - which begged the question of why did her dad even have that, her mom always kept the soaps very nicely packaged and stashed in a small drawer in the closet space next to the bathroom back home. Still, she stowed the moonstone away, in her boot, and went back to finding an empty bedroom to nap. It was slightly uncomfortable walking with it, but it was luckily small enough to accomodate. Rose picked the first room she had never really gone into before and laid down on the bed. She was asleep in seconds.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Damon was driving, hands loose on the wheel, leaned back in his seat, music coming through the radio as Bonnie turned it on low. There was quiet in the car, despite Jeremy seemingly in high energy, his left leg bouncing up and down, Bonnie seemed deep in thought as well despite her head nodding to the rhythm. He didn’t pay the music coming out of the speakers any mind, instead focused on the young woman in his house that just turned their plans inside out. He still wasn’t sure he believed her when she mentioned that he simply didn’t know all Bennetts’ out there, he paid too much attention to the continuation of their family to simply miss someone, but he had had a break in his watchful eye in the fifties that could’ve very well meant her family could just have been lost to him. He almost chose to ignore that thought since he despised thinking about those five years, smoke and burning flesh and heat always suffocating him whenever he did. So he shook his head and turned up the radio. He didn’t recognize the song, something new and upbeat, the kind of upbeat that melded and sounded exactly like everything else on the radio these days. It didn’t take long for them to make it to the witches’ house and it took even less to get annoyed by the whole situation. </p><p>Damon ran outside as soon as he was able to move, his skin still sizzling softly when he reached the morning air. He listened closely as Bonnie and Jeremy continued on without him, as the little witch did whatever magic she needed to gather the power of 100 or so dead witches. He wondered briefly if he should worry about it, she’d  never liked him nor did she seem to have any qualms about attacking if you messed with her rules, case in point her attitude to Caroline when the blonde had just turned a few months prior. </p><p>“You alright there Judgy?” he called out when he couldn’t hear either human inside the house. He didn’t have any worries regarding Bonnie’s ability to do what they needed, but he definitely had plenty of worries regarding the other witches they’d be contacting, especially Emily Bennett, for all he’d helped her during the time she’d lived on this earth. Emily didn’t seem to like him much, similar to the judgy witch currently inside really, except Bonnie had had ample reasoning for her dislike, Emily he couldn’t understand. And hadn’t really, even after her son told him the reason itself following her death.</p><p>Damon strained his ears, but still no sound was coming through. He pondered for a few seconds, called out again, but nothing. He took a breath in. “Emily, please don’t screw me here, I’m trying to help your ancestor.” he mumbled and ran inside. Bonnie was nowhere to be seen on the first floor, neither was little Gilbert. Nor were they on the second floor, especially since the floorboards there were close to crumbling, so the basement level it was. He called out one final time when he finally heard movement. He entered the room, noting vaguely that Jeremy was sitting cross legged on the floor in front of the witch because his gaze was immediately drawn to her. She was chanting, candle light reflecting off of her skin if soft tresses of shades, giving her an ethereal look, her words were barely whispered but tasted of power and command on his tongue as he breathed in. He couldn’t focus on anything else but her, his gaze tracing the slope of her shoulders and up the length of her neck, extended, a tendon pulled as she spoke faster. He shook his head but stayed silent, she’d complained earlier about needing quiet to be able to focus on her spells and he’d paid attention. He weirded himself out a bit since he still could barely focus on the room around them, but now that he tried he was able to feel the magic infused in the walls, floor, the very air of the room. Old magic, dead magic. He almost, <em> almost </em>could make out the influence of Emily’s magic if he tried a bit harder, almost taste her anger and fear and control, the way he’d done it the night she’d died.</p><p>He saw Bonnie’s chest distend once, a deep inhale, and on her exhale he felt all the power in the air dissipate and  move towards her. When she opened her eyes, he almost expected them to have changed, but they were the same deep forest green they’d always been, except she stood a bit taller, moved a bit more confidently as she sat up and stood on her feet.</p><p>“Done Witchy?” </p><p>She seemed almost confused for a second as she looked at him and Jeremy, as though she’d forgotten what she’d been doing or where she was, but then a soft grimace, a scrunch in her nose and a loud sneeze seemed to bring her back to the present. She shuddered suddenly, as if in afterthought, and glared at him. He winked back, exaggerated in the way he enjoyed so very much to do since it irked her and she had the most precious pout when he did it.</p><p>“Did it work Bonnie?” </p><p>“Yeah, I think that was it. I can definitely feel their power.” she answered Jeremy’s question and Damon almost felt offended if he didn’t already know that was just their modus operandi to irk one another, and being ignored certainly irked him plenty.</p><p>“Yeah? So what can you do know? Pull <em> two </em> rabbits out of your hat?”</p><p>“Weren’t you supposed to stay upstairs, Damon?” He’d been right, the most precious pout.</p><p>“Ah, I was going to, but then I thought to myself and realized I couldn't deprive the poor judgmental women in here of my presence much further, I’m not a monster!” he put a hand on his chest as though entirely sincere and affected, if not for the shit-eating grin on his lips. Bonnie scoffed and he thought he almost saw a smile, but she turned to pick up her messenger back before he could tell for sure. He still took it as a win. “Ready to go now children? Daddy has a meeting with a 19 year old back home” He cringed as the words came out of his mouth, regretting them immediately. </p><p>“Gross Damon! God, do you even hear yourself when you speak?” </p><p>Well, that just won’t do. “Why Bonnie? I never took you as the jealous kind.” She shook her head again, shuddered forcefully and walked past him, careful pointedly to avoid touching him, their eyes meeting briefly and he swore she looked about ready to laugh.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. V</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bonnie muses about how weird her life's gotten and Rose is in for a surprise when she wakes up.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bonnie was on her way back home, power humming under her skin, feeling like a full day spent sunbathing, just this thin layer of vibration there, of warmth. It felt better than she had in much too long. Jeremy had requested to be dropped off at the Grill, so she was now carefully balancing her bag of food, a burger and fries, large both, and an extra large coke that she was already down half of in just the short drive back. She wished she could say she was excited to go home, hell, she should have been since it’s been equally long that she hasn’t had the time to waste time at home and only home. But she wasn’t. She had three projects, two papers and a ton of homework to get back on top of, that she’d neglected the past few months, since news of Klaus got out. And she still would be focusing on that threat if her dad hadn’t issued a much worse threat, grounded if she doesn’t get her grades up in a month. All in all, pretty fair of him she thought, but still, annoying. </p><p>She was only vaguely curious how Caroline and Elena were still getting Bs every so often in class, but Caroline could just write everything with super speed and if you were to be completely honest, Elena could just ask Stefan to compel her grades back up if she really needed to, and she also didn’t have that much to do with the threat of Klaus. Bonnie wasn’t being mean by thinking that, it was just the facts, Elena was certainly extremely worried because of him and, to be completely honest Katherine likely as well, but there was nearly nothing she needed or could do, not like Caroline who was a vampire with super speed and strength or Bonnie with her magic. And Bonnie certainly didn’t begrudge her friends the downtime, she just wished she could get some more herself if anything.</p><p>Bonnie hooked her leg around the door and pushed it shut behind her, the loud bang vibrating throughout the hallway and kitchen. She sighed, toed her shoes off, cursed as her bag fell off her shoulder and stuck on her wrist awkwardly and then dropped it to the small shoes’ rack, hung on a hook. She threw the jacked she had on onto the chair as she set the food on the table, drew a large slurp of her coke as she rose on her tiptoes to get one of the plates from the upper cabinet, before dropping both it and the plate onto the counter to rummage through the drawers for some utensils. She wondered if Caroline still did that weird thing of cutting through her burger even now, but only half-focused on that thought as she retrieved a fork and then  the sweet chilli she’d stored in the fridge from her last excursion to the Grill for food, probably months ago. She took her food, balancing rather precariously in her hands, and made her way to the TV. There had to be some shitty reality show or sitcom or something to watch at this hour right? Wasn’t that what normal people did when they got home after work and school?</p><p>She thumbed through the channels quickly, refusing to start eating until she had some entertainment running commentary on the background as well until she settled on some trivia quiz show thing she’d never heard of and probably never watch again, but it made for good distraction for now. She could still feel the waves of new power strumming in her body, filling her up with warmth and safety, like a nice summer morning. She thought back to the day’s events. The day that hadn’t even been that long yet more things happened than she’d have ever thought and her threshold for that had reached never-before seen heights about two years ago when Damon Salvatore crashed into her friends lives violently. That thought only sent her mind further down the rabbit hole that the elder Salvatore sibling usually did, which meant a confusing and conflicting barrage of both his worst deeds and the times he’d saved her or her loved ones. It was the strangest thing to her to look back on things now, after a day spent in his presence, his irritating voice narrating everything now, as though even outside of his general vicinity she still couldn’t escape the man. But he’d also surprised her a few times too, every so often, as though the mere idea that he could ever give anyone the mistaken impression that he could be decent was repulsive to him. </p><p>God, Damon drove her mad, so mad she genuinely worried she might actually cause a fire in the middle of town sometimes. She didn’t know what it was exactly, because while he was definitely annoying constantly and had done truly horrendous things to her and her loved ones, he still shouldn’t have caused her so much aggravation. There have been others that have done similar or worse things than him that she just put aside so quickly, but him? No, he was like a fungus, spreading and disgusting but also vaguely helpful for the environment. She guessed, she hadn’t been paying much attention in Biology lately. And he also, weirdly enough, made her feel... not safe, but some kind of confident perhaps, like she knew exactly where she stood with him and that he knew exactly how much she could take and wasn’t afraid to push her to those limits because he knew exactly where the breaking point was and when to stop. Which was just the stupidest thing she’d ever thought about really since he’d tried killing her before, several times. And used her for her magic constantly. Than again, so did everyone else.</p><p>When had her life become this thing that it now was? There were times where she couldn’t even remember what her Grams looked like at the end of the day because of what she’d had to do or how much of herself she had had to give, and Grams’ death had ripped part of her and kept it empty still. There was still a hole where her Grams should’ve been, but still, there was so much going on, so often, that Grams sometimes just… faded. She wasn’t gone, no, she was never gone from her thoughts, but sometimes, after having been kidnapped and drained of blood and magic, Grams got quiet in her mind. And other times she screamed, because Bonnie knew it wasn’t good to use up her power the way she was, it was too much, pushing too hard. She knew Grams would’ve put her foot down if she’d seen how Bonnie’s friends had taken to treating her lately, less of a person, more of a tool or weapon. </p><p>And Bonnie could see that too, and it hurt. It hurt so bad sometimes she just needed to get away from it all. But her friends could die if she didn’t do those things and she couldn’t bare to lose more people - sometimes she wondered whether she should send her dad away or come clean about all of it because he wasn’t safe, so one was safe. And then sometime Damon would say something stupid but so very neccessary that that it actually did make her feel some level of safe, because at least then she had confirmation that at least one other peron in their group of mismatched survivors was aware of how fucked up it all was and how some things needed to be done regardless. And she couldn’t help but give him some credit there. Even if she still preferred to see him writhing on the ground in pain.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Rose woke up a few hours later. The house was eerily silent that for a second she forgot what had happened and wondered if her friends were playing pranks on her. It was highly disconcerting to wake up to a house you’ve known as home for almost a decade now and find it so quiet when usually there were too many people everywhere. But the bed she was laying on wasn’t <em> her </em> bed and the room she was in wasn’t <em> her </em> room and the whole house smelled different and felt different. She stood up, looked around then out the window, saw the sun was just setting, all orange and red shining through the blinds - <em> The world is on fire, you see that Rosie-Posie? </em> - and sighed. She missed her parents. She had barely gotten the chance to see them when she decided to go ahead and do something stupid. And god, was it ever stupid, it was so dumb it wasn’t just regular stupid, but, in Lizzy Saltzman’s words, <em> stoopid </em> , which apparently was a whole other level of idiocy that apparently her mom and Lizzy’s mom-not-mom had come up with when they were younger. She felt <em> stoopid </em>, now that she’d done this. She understood the difference. </p><p>She listened a bit, trying to see if she could hear anyone else in the house, but the Boarding House was too big and she wasn’t a vampire so she couldn’t hear any voice, but could hear every single creek and it was vaguely terrifying and she felt 11 again and sleeping here for the first time and scared about the big old house and the strange new people living with her in it. It was kind of eye-opening to be completely honest, to her. It reminded her of how good she had it now and how really, really bad it was that she’d done that spell in the first place. Another sigh and she was getting up, stretching as she went, bones popping and an odd crink in her neck from the bad position she’d slept in and a ghost pain in her elbow, likely from having hit in while sleeping as she sometimes did. A small snort at the memory of her mom’s comically horrified face when she saw her wake up bruised the first time had her startled and she snorted again at scaring herself like a baby. </p><p>Rose rubbed at her eyes, crusty from the sleep, finger-combed her hair out of her face and went to the bathroom. When she returned she flipped the lights on and sat on the edge of the bed, pulled out her phone and opened the notes. She had to get a plan done. She thought about everything she knew and made a list to get it all in order, then took that list and figured what she wanted to get out of this whole situation and how much she could actually do and ended up with at least an idea of what she should and shouldn’t do. Firstly she realised there was absolutely no way of preventing Klaus from becoming the hybrid, he was too paranoid, too determined and too dangerous to even consider that possibility at this point in time. The Klaus she knew in her world? A completely different story, but this one wasn’t that guy so in the words of the Klaus that had taken her to her first art show simply because she and Hope had asked him to she would just have to revise and adapt. She also couldn’t kill him. She didn’t have nearly enough power to pull any kind of binding spell from his bloodline to be able to not cause a genocide so that was equally off the board as well. Plus she actually kind of liked the guy he became in the future so she wanted to keep him alive to actually maybe become him. But she also didn’t want anyone to die. So she needed a plan to keep them alive or at least bring them back. Luckily her mom had been the Anchor to the Other Side for a while there and had learned a lot about how that worked and while they no longer had an Other Side themselves, it still very much existed here so that brought several very good and very real possibilities of preventing deaths. Soore one Rose, zero this freaky universe. </p><p>She also kind of wanted to get her parents to at least not hate each other a bit quicker here. She’s heard them enough times talk about how if they’d actually gotten along earlier, things could’ve been prevented. She wasn’t entirely sure what those things were, because she was pretty sure they weren’t delusional enough to think that them getting together could actually prevent stuff like Silas or the Travellers that she’d heard them speak about, but she could definitely see how it would have helped. Her parents worked incredibly well together. Even when they disagreed on stuff constantly they still had this synchronization to their planning and execution that no one could deny. So yeah, Rose wanted to play match-maker a bit. Not the main goal here, nor would she really push for anything since that wasn’t going to help at all, but if she saw any opportunity, sure, she’d try. Lizzy would be so proud of her when she got back, she always tried to get Rose to join her in her match-making escapades around school. </p><p>Mind made up, she smiled, pleased with herself and headed downstairs to try to get on top of everything. She needed help coming up with a feasible and best plan and she could hear Damon talking down the hall from the living room area. Actually, she paused and grinned, she could hear a lot of people, likely the whole gang. Perfect, this was going to be just great. So Rose rounded the corner and was about to open her mouth to get this show on the road when she heard a very familiar voice and saw a very familiar sight surrounded by complete shocked chaos about to unleash.</p><p>“Sheila-Rose Bennett-Salvatore, what on Earth were you thinking?” </p><p>The voice of Bonnie Bennett-Salvatore was calm, her stance relaxed as she stood in front of the fireplace. She didn’t seem to be angry, save for the words that she’d just uttered, if anything, Rose thought her mom was a bit too at ease and amused by the whole situation. Her dad though, well. Damon Salvatore-Bennett was not pleased, and she could tell because he had his hands on his hips and that disappointed look on his face, furrowed brow and tight jaw, shaking his head minutely, tense. No, her dad was not amused at all, if anything he seemed more likely to start her lecture early and publicly and ground her for the next year than anything else. So Rose was even more surprised to see her mom smile brightly and relieved and feel her dad rush to her and wrap his arms around her so tight and so warm she would've cried if she could breathe.</p><p>“Dad. Dad, I’m okay, I promise.” she reassured even as she squeezed him just as tightly and gave a shaky grin in response to her mom. “Sorry.” she mumbled next, right in the crook of her dad’s neck who says <em>it's ok Rosie-Posie</em> so softly she choked up a bit, and knew her mom heard it or saw it because her smile tempered slightly and the worried she must have been keeping pushed to the surface. Bonnie walked over to them, her hand gently caressing Damon’s back to get him to ease up and he startled a bit, jumping and then disentangling himself from Rose only for her to find herself face to face with her mom and now she doesn’t know what to do because dad is easy, dad glares and rants and raves but it’s all because he worries and the second he realises nothing is wrong he instantly forgives, but mom either grounds her or lectures or of gives her some kind of punishment and that when she messes up with stuff that is easy to fix if still vaguely serious, but this is something else, this could’ve actually turned out much worse and so Rose braced for whatever her mom might say now that she’s seen Rose was alright. </p><p>So Rose was entirely unprepared for her mom to cup her cheeks and brush her still dishevelled hair out of her eyes and kiss her forehead and now Rose was definitely going to cry, but that was ok because mom also wraped her arms around her and she could burrow now in her neck as well and mom smells of home in an entirely different way that dad did, but he also smelled of home too and it’s a bit too much for her so she could feel a few stray tears escaping, but that was ok too because she could just hide them in the material of her mom blouse and under the shade of her dad’s hand caressing her hair softly. When she drew back, she was alright again, only she realised that the other ones, the people from this universe w ere still there and looking both vaguely confused, but a lot angrier and a lot more shocked and oh god this will still kill her, won’t it?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. VI</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>More bamon fun in this one, also a bit more Damon heavy than usual. Hope you enjoy.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Damon hadn’t known what to expect when he arrived home from the old witches’ house, but total and complete silence had definitely not been it. So it took him a second or so before he dared enter his home, then another few seconds just to judge himself for hesitating at all. It was his house after all, when had his house become the place he worried about? When had he stopped being the thing others were worried about? He missed those days, it had been so much easier when he didn’t try, when he just was. Sure, he and Stefan weren’t on speaking terms, and sure he had moments when the guilt got loud, like in the 90s, or the loneliness suffocating, like in the 50s, or he simply didn’t remember who he was because he’d spent so long running from himself, but it had been so much easier. He could just up and leave and leave behind everything. But not now, not anymore. Now he and Stefan got along, sometimes, and there were people who depended on him and who, dare he say it, might even care about him. He had Ric now, his drinking buddy, his best friend. He had Elena, and while he wasn’t sure what he was her or she to him, he cared about her and knew she did too. He could even say he and Bonnie were alright nowadays, and Jeremy even looked up to him at times, and god was that ever so confusing. And Caroline … well she didn't like him at all, but it made sense with her, he’d messed up with her too much and too harshly. He’d been desperate and she’d paid the price and any other time he wouldn’t have cared, but she was a bit too close to who he used to be to do so now and he was a bit too close to her mom as well, might even be friends if Liz could ever handle knowing both him and her daughter were the very creatures she’d dedicated her life to killing. </p><p>He was getting soft at his age. Even Katherine, who he should by all means hate for what she did to him and Stefan, how she played them both, he could say he at the very least understood. He understood why she did all that she did, especially now, especially after what Rose had said about Klaus and the older doppelganger. It rattled him, caring, it made him feel some sort of way that he wasn’t sure how to handle anymore. He used to be good at it in the past, when his mom was alive he used to be able to tell with barely a glange is she needed a hug or to be left to her thoughts, whether Stefan needed space or attention, whether dad needed a cigar or quiet. He knew everything about people then, or so he remembered whenever he thought of that time, as rare as that was. He knew when a girl in town had her eyes on him, when one of the boys was in a mood to wrestle. Now it was both easier and harder. Sure, he could still tell what people wanted, that kind of awareness wasn’t lost easily and vampirism only heightened that characteristic, but being able to feel all those feelings that those around him would feel hurt worse now, like how he felt a twinge in his chest when Liz denied Caroline as her daughter, why he spoke out against it. Why he offered Ric a drink after killing him once he understood what Isobel had done to her husband. Why Elena was such a focus for him. Why he never minced his words with Bonnie, because he knew she could handle it and that she needed to feel like she could handle herself. </p><p>Damon walked forward, deep in thought and looked around the house. Still eerie silence. Well, alright. House was empty then, he could relax a bit. He poured himself a drink, half what he usually did, only for the familiarity of the taste, of the burn, of the quenching of his blood thirst. Then walked to the library to pick something to read. He’d bought most of those books. He wasn’t sure Stefan knew that, he figured if he did, he never thought much of it, probably figured it was for Damon’s own amusement, which fair point, that was the whole point of books really. But Damon had a feeling that Stefan never even thought of the possibility, likely his little brother just assumed their various family throughout the ages just amassed a fortune in books. And well, if Damon never tried to dissuade his brother from that idea, he wasn’t too bothered. Stefan could continue with his imagined singular bridge between them and their family and Damon could enjoy his peace in … well, peace. But he never got the time to read all of them, always something else going on, something else happening. But this was the longest stretch he’d spent in Mystic Falls in centuries so he had time now, in between the crises. Today had gone well, Bonnie was now fully powered up, more powerful than she’d ever been and Klaus seemed to be taking his sweet ass time. It was nice almost. Hell, not even his brother was bothering him much today, so he had time to read a bit. He picked something at random and settled himself on one of the couches. </p><p>It was he was reading that he noticed the soft breaths coming from inside his house. He put his book down, a quick glance at the page number to make sure he remembered where he’d left at - barely 5 pages, not even a full chapter yet - and heading towards the sound. He wasn’t expecting any threat, whoever they were, they clearly weren’t alert so likely not going to be ready to attack. And he knew Katherine’s breath as she slept, he’d spent centuries trying to hold onto the sound of her asleep and safe and with him, none more acutely as the Augustine where he dreamt of that sound every week, so he knew it wasn’t her. He almost laughed when he did reach the room, because of course it was their young prophet that was sleeping down the hall from his room, curled up under the duvet, still fully dressed but her boots next to the bed, thrown there haphazardly. Her hair was sleep-ruffled, her face less harsh in the soft light coming through the blinds, her skin almost golden brown. She looked small, smaller than she was and that was saying something, but small as in young. It took him aback a bit. She was clearly older than Elena or Caroline or Bonnie, it showed clearly in her eyes and her mannerism and her way of speaking, but she was still very young still. It made him realize just how young they all were really, all these people he chose to care about, that have snuck under his skin and stuck there, buried. It surprised him and yet not. He knew they were young, he felt it enough. And he knew Stefan, for all that his still retained some of the baby around the cheeks and hands, wasn’t the 17 year old he’d died as, just as he wasn’t the 23 year old either, despite what the lines around his face, barely forming as he’d died, said or the few grey hairs he had, that he refused to ever acknowledge despite his pride back in the 1800s at seeing them the first time - maturity, his father had praised once. </p><p>No, he and Stefan and Katherine weren’t young. Hadn’t been in ages, and yet sometimes it felt as though they were, sometimes he caught this feeling in his stomach, like he was falling in love for the first time all over again, like when he’d met Elena on the road a year or so prior - when he’d first arrived, just after he realized she wasn’t the love of his life - or anxiety at seeing Liz in her full uniform despite her treating his as an equal. The way he still saw Stefan taken aback every so often at the dirty look of one of the older people around when they were at the bar, like he really ought to not be drinking after all. It was confusing and likely why Stefan was able to have a relationship with Elena despite his age, because he never got to experience his age properly, not before he died. Why Damon himself craved the drama so much that he was even willing to sleep his way through half the town for the attention. Well, that and he genuinely enjoyed screwing his way through half the town, same as Stefan genuinely loved Elena. And he wasn’t blind, he knew his little brother was smitten and Damon might even admit on occasion he thought he might feel the same, but then he would see Katherine and Elena in the same room and it would still, after so much, be Katherine’s smirk and her sparkling gaze drawing him in, not Elena’s doe eyes and soft smile. And that only made him go after Elena harder, because he couldn’t still be hung up over <em> that </em>bitch. </p><p>Rose shifted in her sleep and he jerked, too caught in his head to expect the movement. She mumbled something in her sleep, he wasn’t too sure what, but he thought it was her calling for her parents. He wondered who her parents were, what they were like. Because who’d allow their 19 year old to know so much about an immortal legendary being like Klaus, what they’d think of her hanging out with a bunch of strangers, risking her life to bring this being down with them. They had to be worried right? Were they looking for her? Had she run away to do this? Or had she told them she was off with a friend and they were just expecting to see her in a little while, all while she was risking death. He wondered if they’d blame them for Rose being in Mystic Falls instead of their daughter, because he could imagine it being much easier to blame a bunch of total strangers for coercing than blame their own flesh and blood. Then again, maybe not. The girl clearly had been trained to use her magic like that. Not only that, but been trained by someone who obviously knew their craft and knew it well. Someone powerful. He watched Rose sleep a few moments more, watched the annoying, hard headed girl he’d just met and has already thought of killing three times, sleep in a bed, in his house and felt … almost a wave of affection for her. She clearly hadn’t anticipated all of this, that was easy to tell if you paid it any mind. Sure she knew her shit, but she was so very hesitant in her steps that he almost wondered if she’d accidentally ended up here, but how could that be, with all that she knew. He walked out, leaving the door a smidge open and returned to his book. He had a few hours before the Scooby Gang would get together to discuss what they were going to do about Klaus so he planned to take advantage of that. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Damon watched his wife giggle through the shawl around her shoulders and over her mouth, her attention captured by her best friend as she rolled out of the driveway with Stefan behind the wheel. They’d had a good night tonight, dancing and drinking and having fun. And his little girl was home, finally after so many weeks. He wondered if she’d try to set him on fire for tucking her in like he used to do when she’d first arrived here and got used to them - so much like her mom sometimes that one, though Bonnie hadn’t threatened him with fire in years. He wrapped his hands around Bonnie’s waist, drawing her to him, feeling her shiver due to the cold night air and burying his face in her neck, soft kisses up and down the length of it. She giggled again, but it turned into a soft groan as he chose that moment to suck at the sensitive patch of skin just behind her ear. He smiled and let her turn in his hands, her arms coming to rest around his neck, her hands finding their way into his hair, scritching at the scalp, making him shiver but not due to the cold. She drew back, looking up at him, her warm green eyes shining with the porch lights, twinkling in the night and he could barely contain the love he held for this woman. She smiled and his heart jumped to his throat, like falling in love for her for the first time all over again and he kissed her forehead and held her close to him, safe and warm and each others’. Maybe he should’ve stopped at the fourth bottle of wine like Stefan had, then he wouldn’t be this sappy? But he knew that was just a bluff, he was always this sappy, like Bonnie liked to remind him. </p><p>Damon wouldn’t have guessed that he was the more romantic of the two, but it made sense after he leaned her, found out her quirks and likes and dislikes, what she liked and what she dreamt and how she was at 3 am going on no sleep and buried to her neck in work or at 3 in the afternoon and sleepy like a lazy cat. That was of course not to say that she wasn’t sappy in her own right, they tended to outmatch once another often, a fair game to both. Always on equal footing. It had come as a surprise to him when he and Bonnie first started getting along, trapped in 1994 and alone, how alike they were, how they matched. So much so he kept trying to annoy her, afraid of it, not knowing the feeling of being known like that, instinctively, wholly, without judgement or need to be changed to fit but simply to fit. And he knew now she had felt the same. He’d thought what would’ve happened if they’d acknowledged each other earlier, would they have grown quicker, would they be stronger, would they simply have avoided the heartaches and pain and such deep cutting loneliness? And yet he would never risk any of this on the chance of going back to change anything, because every step had led him here, wrapped around Bonnie Bennett, a silver band around his finger that he prises more than any daylight ring, utterly domestic and so very, very happy. Chosen, but beyond chosen, accepted. With a family, a family that he’d protect and cherish like his own had not done so, father to a child he couldn’t be prouder of and that he made sure to remind whenever he felt there was any fear of forgetting. And he knew Bonnie felt the same, she’d said as much enough times. They knew each other, they understood each other and they built each other up.</p><p>“We should see what Rose is up to, I haven’t seen her since Caroline took out the tequila bottle.” Bonnie murmured in his chest. She was right of course and he’d missed his littlest witch. The house much too silent without her. So he went up to check on her while Bonnie left to put away the dishes and clean up the deck. But Rose wasn’t in her room and the whole house was silent. He felt his heart speed and he listened for any kind of noise, any noise from his daughter, but nothing was there save for Bonnie bustling downstairs. The worry cloyed and he had to close his eyes before he called out for Bonnie to come. She must’ve heard the panic in his voice because he heard her just drop the stuff she was moving and run up the stairs to meet him.</p><p>“Damon? What is it? How’s Rose?”</p><p>“You mean where’s Rosie.” he mumbled and the panic grew with the words, as though saying it aloud made it more real, more of a threat.</p><p>“What?!” the worry had entered Bonnie’s voice now too so he watched his wife do a customary check of the house with a quick spell then turn on her heels toward her <em> witches’ den </em>. He followed right behind. A locator spell might have been a bit much, but Rose wasn’t really one to run away to meet her friends, if anything she was much more likely to invite them all here to have their own party in their teenager obnoxious way.  </p><p>Bonnie paused. Sudden. Something was wrong, so he looked around her to the open room, the room they kept closed except for when needed. Which certainly wouldn’t be a family night like tonight. She ran inside as soon as she recovered, letting the door swing and smack the wall, a small bit of plaster cracking and a stray thought of <em> imma have to fix that </em> passed by his mind but most of his thoughts were on his daughter so he followed suit. The grimoire was open as well was the first thing he realized. The second thing was that Bonnie looked scared. Really scared.</p><p>“Bon? What is it, babe? Bon?” </p><p>“I… uh” she stopped, swallowed, shifted her weight. “I created this spell.” she began again, voice barely audible. “It’s a dimension spell, like…” a harsh sigh, a hand over her face and through her hair. “Like the prison world, only for a world that exists outside of ours. Like an alternate universe. But I never. I <em> never </em>tested it Damon. I never needed to. I’d made it when it seemed as though Katherine might attacked after we found out she was Queen of Hell. But never had to use it so I never tried it. If Rose…” she trailed off, her hands shaking and he put his hand over hers, gently stroking the back of her hand with his thumb. He knew what this could mean. Rose probably tried it, she’d done so before, when she’d been younger, the same spell, so Damon was sure she’d thought she would just try it quickly while he and Bonnie were distracted downstairs and be done before they were. But if Bon hadn’t ever tried this, then god only knew where his daughter ended up or if she even was - no, no nonono. She was just somewhere, this was a transportation spell and she’d done it and now she was in a different world, she was safe and probably not sure how to come back or having fun there and forgot the time. </p><p>“Can we get her back?” he asked. More sure in his tone than he felt. He felt Bonnie shake her head confused so he asked again. “Can we get her back? Would it be the same place?” </p><p>Bonnie shook her head again, but this time understanding was shining in her gaze so she flicked her wrist, set the candles all alight around them and nodded.</p><p>“Yes, I made the spell so that it would only ever have one road to travel so I’d never lose the way, then made a separate spell in case I wanted a different destination. She should be exactly in the same place we’d end up if I do the spell right now. If she hasn’t tried it again trying to get back, but we can just follow her then too. But baby, the return spell dictates we’re all stuck there for at least a few days until the hole this punches in time and space can mend itself to try again.” Damon breathed in relief, nodding, despite the warning. This was hope in his chest, spreading, like in 1994 Bonnie still held all of his hope in her words. This was familiar territory, this was something he could fall back on. So he just set down next to her, held her hand when she extended it and prepared for whatever was about to come. He didn’t expect the nausea as they landed, but it settled fast enough. He expected the Boarding House even less, but it was more familiar territory. And he could recognize every single car parked around, Caroline’s old Ford Fiesta down the side, perfect parallel parking as usual for the little perfectionist his sister in law had always been, Ric’s Chevie in its usual spot, even Bonnie’s ancient Prius. Where the hell were they now?</p><p>“Bon? Where are we?”</p><p>“Mystic Falls.” she answered, a small amused grin on her lips despite the worry still present in her tense body. God, they were still dressed like they’d been when they woke up earlier today, his sweatpants and T-shirt barely making this more surreal than Bonnie’s shawl draped over her tank top and panda shorts. This was what family night usually entailed though, PJ’s and comfort. This was going to be an entrance for sure. “I’m pretty sure we’re about to see our younger selves and possibly end up in the middle of one of our old conflicts. If this is remotely similar to our universe history.” Damon nodded and squeezed the hand he was still holding onto. But now he could focus better and so he focused on anything that could tell them where their daughter was. If she even was here anymore. A soft murmur of a noise caught his attention quickly, a hum in an upstairs bedroom, close to his room. That was her. He would recognize his daughter’s voice anywhere.</p><p>“Babe, can you do a quick scan. I think she’s upstairs, but I don’t know if that could just be this universe’s version of Rosie.” Bonnie didn’t even need him to finish his sentence, she was already channelling energy, he could taste it in the air. Her answering smile was enough. </p><p>Now what to do about the clear audience they were going to be encountering inside. He was contemplating this when he noticed Bonnie had already walked to the door and was opening it. He ran to her side, asking her what she was planning in a hiss, but she simply shrugged and he decided fuck it, we’ll go with the flow. They’d barely got the to say a word to the very clearly younger versions of themselves, all in shock and confusion, when Rose, his Rosie-Posie walked down the stairs and opened her mouth to say something, determined like he remembered her to be when presenting a project in school, then close with a snap at the sight of them. He felt as though he should be mad, and the anger did come, she’d worried them both, but this spell could’ve just not worked at all, could’ve killed them or worse, and yet here she was, alive, determined, safe. He jumped at his wife’s voice, not really listening, just scanning Rose for any injuries. Once he found none, he walked over to her, saw her brace for a lecture, but the anger had faded the second he’d seen the fear in her eyes fade at the sight of them in the room so all he could do was hold her like his life depended on it. He moved when Bonnie’s hand touched him, knowing that for all that she was the more strict parent she was just as in need of holding Rose right then as he was. Now to figure out if they could just head home or if the others would try to prevent them. He could probably take them. He exchanged a look with his wife over their daughter’s shoulders’, they’d be fine it said, they’d figure it out like they’ve always done.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>